Sordo takes Rally Ireland lead

Despite Loeb's concerns over the suspension issue, which struck before the morning's first stage even began, he lost little time and is still second, only 2.2 seconds behind Sordo.

Overnight leader Gronholm, who is just four points ahead of Loeb in the championship, fell to third on the first fully-fledged stage of the event but was only four seconds off the pace before crashing in this morning's final stage.

His Ford Focus lost both driver's side wheels in the accident near the end of Lough Gill 1, and the Finn has now been taken to hospital for precautionary checks after briefly passing out several minutes later.

Loeb was surprised to end SS2 with a four-second lead despite the suspension problem, which he felt would prove more costly as the morning went on.

"I've had a broken suspension since the start of the stage," he said at the end of SS2.

"Before the start I heard some noise from the rear, and the left rear suspension is out of oil now, so it's worse and worse.

"This stage was not too bumpy and even in that the car was bumping a lot, so the next stages will maybe be more difficult."

As Loeb predicted, he fell behind Sordo by the end of the loop, but he remains in a very strong second position and will be able to return to service for the Citroen team to fix the suspension.

Gronholm's teammate Mikko Hirvonen is now Ford's leading contender in third place, albeit half a minute behind the Citroens after an error in SS3.

Petter Solberg held fifth for Subaru initially, but was troubled by a misfire developing in the opening stage. He subsequently fell to seventh, as Stobart Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala vaulted past both Solberg and teammate Chris Atkinson to take fifth, before moving up to fourth after Gronholm's departure.

Atkinson then lost 15 minutes with a trip off the road in SS4, elevating Solberg back up to fifth. The third works Subaru driver Xevi Pons also went off in Lough Gill, retiring from 11th place after striking a gatepost.

The order behind the top five is currently unclear, as the Lough Gill stage was ultimately stopped so that Gronholm could receive medical assistance.

DMG Subaru driver Kris Meeke - who took an impressive third in last night's Stormont superspecial - should be classified in sixth when the organisers allocate notional times for the drivers affected by the stoppage, ahead of Henning Solberg (Stobart Ford) and Manfred Stohl (OMV Kronos Citroen).

Like many drivers further down the running order, Meeke was frustrated by the extremely slippery road conditions, as the already-damp asphalt became increasingly muddy.

"These world championship guys know how to cut, and they put all the mud in the road," Meeke said after SS2.